i do not think they will harm us, but they do hurt my pocket book. My bills have gone up 100 percent even though me and the wife are being turning off breakers when we leave and things like that. So not sure what is wrong with that. and BC hydro wants to charge me 100 bucks to come look at it.
Okay, a couple things …
1. It's possible that your new meter is mis-calibrated. They've installed a couple million now and found like one or two that were out of cal. Probability is working against you on that one.
2. It's somewhat more likely that your old analog meter was out of calibration. Older measurement methods plus equipment that's been in service for a long time equals probably drift in calibration. So it is actually possible that you've spent several years getting billed for less than actual consumption.
3. You can check #1 fairly easily. Find a time when you can shut off all the power to the house. Make sure nothing in the house that will be affected by an outage (don't be in the middle of burning the latest Justin Bieber CD, eg.). Then, shut off the main incoming breaker in your electrical panel. Go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside to your meter and watch. Is it incrementing/adding power usage? Then you know you have a bad meter. Switch power back on, call BCH.
4. I recommend (and will be getting for myself) purchasing the Blueline power monitor that can be attached to your smart meter for reading your power usage. This will give you a little display inside the house for instant feedback on power use. Turn on a 100W light? You should see your power draw go up by 100W. If you turn the light on and see it jump by 200W then again, you know there's a calibration problem. These meters are a great way to get instant feedback on your consuming habits. Most people that get them see their power bill drop by 15% or more just because instant feedback means instant understanding of what is costing you money. A hundred bucks well spent, IMO.
http://www.aartech.ca/powercost-monitor.html
Kn.
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called religion.